Groupon’s second quarter earnings show that the market for daily deals and the companies that offer them is declining, according to a column at Slate.com. The decline is a good thing because the deals are bad for many small businesses, according to Farhad Manjoo, the column’s author.
The fact that even Groupon is no longer banking on Groupons is fantastic news for everyone, especially all of us who are sick of morning email deal spam. But the biggest beneficiaries of Groupon’s problems are the world’s small-business owners, people who will no longer be taken in by its terrible deals. Today, Groupon’s stock is down nearly 30 percent. Its demise may not be imminent, but it seems assured. Let’s all rejoice.
Whether Groupon’s earnings spell the beginning of the end for deeply discounted goods and services remains to be seen, but it is reasonable to expect the market to change as competitors enter the market and businesses change their approaches to bringing in customers.
Click here to read more from Slate.
